This is a blog dedicated to the men who were in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975.
It is also about my experiences with the people and the equipment that made B Battery, 4th Battalion, 77th Field Artillery come alive for me.
We were one heck of a unit and one hell of a team.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Vietnam -- It happened on May 4th,1970 Over Firebase Nancy

Author's Notes:

First, thank you very much for reading this story. Since this has become a popular read and also a true story, I thought it wise to actually tell the whole story here instead of a simple shortened version which really doesn't tell the whole story.

I had been up for almost 48 hours straight as the nightmare of May 3rd began to weave a new reality for me. I was focused on rebuilding our unit. Gleaning some respect, the job of rebuilding the unit was just as nightmarish as the vivid destruction I had witnessed the night before.

The from a logistic perspective work to be done felt more like a script for mission impossible than something that could be done by just a PFC armed with a CEOI, radio, and jeep.

With that said, during mid day formation, we were told our unit was now on "stand down". That meant we weren't going to see any action until we got to the point where we had enough Cobra to perform our mission and the logistics to support them.

I got goose bumps as I soaked in the reality. I finally had a job that fit my personality.

But this story isn't all about me. Its about a few men who gave up their lives because they believed in what they were doing. Did without hesitation what had to be done. Two of them would pass away.

3:30 PM: After going to Phu Bai to pick up a ton of forms and manuals, I dropped them off and headed over to the miniature Officers' club for a chance for a cold Soda. I opened the door and CPT was the only sole inside. After a bit of chit chat, I convinced him to let me have a cold Coke on borrowed time.

While I was quenching my thirst and washing down the gritty film my tongue and throat had collected from driving on the dusty roads, he showed me a picture of his ninth month old daughter --who looked more like him than his wife -- and we shared places where we had been and what we planned on doing after getting out of Nam.

5:00 PM: Signing the roster at the mess hall comes with a bit of a price in Nam. A large orange anti-malaria pill. Luckily, this only happened on Mondays. Still, you felt it going down every day. Roast beef, mash potatoes and cream corn got slapped down on my plate followed by a heavy dose of dark gravy you could lubricate your car with.I enjoyed the chocolate milk and thought about my next seek and fill up the jeep mission.7:00 PM: Since I spent my first four months in Nam at A Company, 5th Trans, I knew many of the men there and they also knew me -- at various shades of like, dislike and awe.

10:00 PM: After completing my first run between my unit and A Company, I returned to A Company. They had just made some fresh coffee -- which I needed -- the guy getting the coffee could entertain them with all the juicy gossip about what happened on May 3rd -- which they needed. Works for me.

11:00 PM: The on my jeep radio comes alive:

At first, I thought I was making this up. Blamed it on sleep deprivation. Then I realized it was real. Division Artillery -- DIVARTY -- just passed over to us a fire mission. Were they insane?

It took me all of five minutes to get over to El Toro pad. Even without lights, I could make out men and feel the chaos.

I watch Lt. Jeffery Johns start his chopper while being yelled at to go pick up WO1 Bonneau by Capt. Winfery. There's no one in the front seat of Johns Cobra as he takes off.

As LT. Jeffery Johns Cobra off the pad and no longer worrying about smacking into it, I looked for WO1 Bonneau. Never saw him before and I didn't have to.

Working at night, on the flight line, you learn whose who by the shapes they cut in the ink black night. He wasn't hard to spot as an unfamiliar butter ball of slow moving panic trying to get everything right before jumping into the Cobra.

Raced over, picked him up and helped him in the Cobra. Closed the Gunner door and latched it down.

Ran around to the other side of the Cobra and told CPT Winfrey that I would repay him back for the Coco-cola had bought me. He smiled, I saluted, closed the pilot door and Latched it down.

Backing away quickly and watched the Cobra disappear into the cloak of a lifelessness. I thought it odd that both Cobras left without anti collision lights but reasoned those lights would give away our location.

Little did I know that I would be the last to see these two men alive.

11:30 PM: I'm back at A Company sipping on the coffee I had left and began talking about how crazy the last 30 minutes had been when I hear LT Jeffery Johns voice on the radio and I knew something was dreadfully wrong. LT. Jeffery Johns and I had bonded on our trip down to Da Nang and I knew the voice enough to know he was definitely shook up.

11:45 PM: After running back over to my unit, I open the door to our makeshift TOC, and saw our CO talking to LT. Jeffery Johns. Around him were many teary eyed Officers. This was something an enlisted man was not supposed to see and our CO knew it. So he yelled, "Get him out of here."

After leaving the TOC, LT Craig Geis came outside and told me to help land LT Johns, get him out of the helicopter and over to our field medical unit, bring him back and then go to bed. He told me that he would tell SFC Valentine to let me sleep.

12:00 AM: I help land LT Jeffery Johns, tell him to get out of the Cobra and get into my jeep, get chewed out to and from the field medical unit -- which he apologized for later, and arrive at my hooch where I went to sleep. It was 1 AM in the morning.

08:00 AM: My sleep is abruptly and rudely dismissed by a PFC who kicked my cot and shrieked that SFC Valentine wanted me in his formation. Apparently, LT Craig Geis failed to tell the brown shoe that it was okay for me to sleep off almost 60 hours worth of no sleep.

I was, needless to say, pissed and told the PFC to tell Valentine to "Go get F*****", which he joyously said he would. And did. I was there one minute after the laughter died and Valentine told me to report to the First Sergeant in the orderly room.

After Valentine completed ranting to the First Sergeant he was dismissed and I was staring at a man whom which I knew could "provide me with a well deserved dose of attitude adjustment."

It didn't happen. Instead, "PFC and future SP4 Edwards, I know what you did last night and they are putting you in for some awards. But if you ever tell one of my senior NCOs to go get "F***** again, I will throw the book at you.

"Get out of my orderly room."

Seven people lost their lives that night on a practice red alert over Firebase Nancy in Vietnam.

Information on U.S. Army helicopter AH-1G tail number 67-15620
The Army purchased this helicopter 0568
Total flight hours at this point: 00001054
Date: 05/04/70
Incident number: 700504352ACD Accident case number: 700504352 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: B/4/77 ARA 101 ABN
The station for this helicopter was Camp Eagle in South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YD474108
Number killed in accident = 2 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 0
costing 0
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Army Aviation Safety Center database. Also: OPERA

Name: CPT Douglas Nelson Winfrey
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 05/04/70 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 25.6
Date of Birth: 09/18/44
Home City: Smyrna, GA
Service: FA branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: B/4/77 ARA
Major organization: 101st Airborne Division
Flight class: 68-518/68-32
Service: FA branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11W-098
Short Summary: Mid-air with flare ship with Dean Bonneau.
Aircraft: AH-1G tail number 67-15620
SSN: 259683934 Service number: O5429720
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 61193
Primary cause: Mid-Air
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: fire or burns
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: co-pilot
Started Tour: 03/08/70
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
Length of service: *
Location: Thua Thien Province I Corps.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Relgion: Baptist - other groups
The following information is secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: officer
This record was last updated on 08/20/95

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is crew member information for this incident:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: WO1 Dean Louis Bonneau
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 05/04/70 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 20.3
Date of Birth: 01/03/50
Home City: Oshkosh, WI
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: B/4/77 ARA
Major organization: 101st Airborne Division
Flight class: 69-31
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11W-094
Short Summary: Mid-air with flare ship with Douglas Winfrey.
Aircraft: AH-1G tail number 67-15620
SSN: 391546930
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 100B = Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot
Primary cause: Mid-Air
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: fire or burns
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 12/22/69
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: *
Location: Thua Thien Province I Corps.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Relgion: Roman Catholic
The following information is secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer

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Photography and I have have been married by the Army since 1970.
There was only one year, 1773, did not have at least one picture of mine in some military publication.
Between 1976 and 1979 I saw over 500 images and 125 features with my byline on them.